With Friends Like These

Kimiko Tamatsuki rarely went anywhere without her smartphone. Even before she was getting paid to be a social media journalist, it was a rare moment of her life that didn't end up on some post, website or video streaming on the Internet. Her therapist had actually suggested she should cut her online activity back for her own mental health, which she had scoffed, insisting that she could quit anytime. Despite all that activity, she couldn't recall live streaming an event as tense as the one unfolding before her.

Kyosuke gave Akito a banal look, keeping his newly-acquired pistol pointed at him. "I figured you to be boring. Just didn't figure you to be a liar."

Akiko almost sneered. "Oh, you're accusing me, while you go around telling people you're just a noodle chef? This... involves matters that do not concern you."

"Oh, so the bounty on Kyoko's head... that doesn't have anything to do with it," Kyosuke mocked.

"Oh yeah, then what are you going to do about it?" Akito mocked. "It's three against one."

"It's one on one," Kyosuke pointed out.

Akito looked momentarily confused. "How so?"

"Once I shoot you... those two... they'll run, trust me," Kyosuke assured.

"You willing to bet your life on that?" Akito bluffed.

"Past experience," Kyosuke assured.

Akito looked uncomfortably around with a realization of the shifting dynamic. "Friends of yours?"

"Acquaintances," Kyosuke corrected. 

Just then, a smartphone went off in Akito's coat. For a few tense seconds, nobody moved. Finally, Akito switched to a single hand grip on his pistol and grabbed the phone with his off hand.

"Have you secured the package?" General Tanaka's voice came through the phone's speaker loud enough for everyone in the restaurant to hear.

There was a long, tense pause before Akito replied with a coarse voice, "There's been a... complication, sir. We might need those additional men after all."

"You really don't want to do this, sir," Kyosuke warned. "The Yamaguchi syndicate was the last gang that allowed their troubles to get too public, and you know what happened to them."

"Sakurai-san, my boy... is that you...?" Ryo's voice came over the speaker, not entirely unkindly. "Don't tell me all those social media stories are actually true, and you've decided to play 'white knight' for this girl..." He let out an exaggerated sigh that everyone could hear the condescension through the phone. "Tell you what... I'm going to make you a one-time offer... just take a step back and let Yamamoto-san do his job, and I'll see to it that you get the bounty, just the same as he's getting. All you have to do is walk away. If it makes your stomach uncomfortable, you don't even have to watch. Easiest payday you've ever made, I can promise you that."

Kimiko looked at Kyosuke with a mixed expression of disbelief and uncertainty as the implication filtered into her thoughts... so not only did you do Spec Ops for the military, but you also went full gangster too?

Kyosuke clicked his tongue and had a momentary bemused expression, "You know, that's a... very generous offer, General, but... I think I'm good," he shook his head before continuing, "Tamatsuki-san, was it?"

Kimiko blinked, "Ah, yeah... that's right..."

"You wanted that really big story?" Kyosuke inquired as he shifted his position with the rear of the restaurant now behind him. "Tell Yoriyoshi to execute Lima Romeo Hotel and take Kyoko with him. Whether you go with them is up to you."

I am so not missing this, Kimiko thought to herself, as she left the room, heading to the back of the restaurant.  

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Daisuke Oyama listened to the reports coming in from his men, along with the various media sources with a mixture of anger and fear. Truthfully, he had no love for the Ikemoto family; he considered them out-of-touch and was just using them for their resources and position as a logistics backbone. However, that contempt didn't blind him to the current situation that he needed Ikemoto-kaichou's favor, and he wasn't going to get it if he believed that members of his group had actually committed this heinous crime; and if it turned out to be the case, he vowed he would personally punish whichever imbecile committed such an act for endangering the deal.

His thoughts were interrupted as one of his subordinates slowly approached him with a grave expression on his face, holding a smartphone. The look in his eyes told him all he needed to know before taking the phone from his hands. "Did you do this?" Isamu Ikemoto's voice came over the phone, with a forced icy calm.

Daisuke took a breath before answering. "Ikemoto-kaichou, you have my personal word that no such order was given for such an unspeakable act. In fact, the word out on the street is that General Tanaka currently has a very high price for the kidnapping of your daughter. Despite this, anyone in my organization who was caught committing such an act would immediately find himself cast out and severely punished, far more than any such bounty would be worth."

"Part of our deal was you would provide security against any such retaliation this arrangement would entail. Now, before we've even begun the first sets of transactions, you can't even prevent the most important task of my own family!?"

Daisuke flinched as the words landed like a slap. "Y-Yes... this was set back from our agreement. I admit this. I have already sent the word out that the safe return of your daughter supersedes all other activities throughout our organization." 

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After he hung up the phone, Isamu Ikemoto buried his head in his hands as he dismissed the rest of his aides to be alone. He thought back about the years he had sacrificed; the personal and financial gambles he had made to reach the heights he had achieved. For a time, many throughout the business community hailed him as a man of uncommon vision and foresight, having anticipated the rise of mobile and e-commerce domination and transforming his early shipping business to meet those needs. He had been among the first to put his company in a favorable position as marketing shifted away from the tradition to the digital. Along with a few lucky breaks, he had become one of those rare success stories, growing from successful local business buying up competitors, to a multinational corporation in the span of a decade.

The growth was marred by personal tragedy; the loss of his wife who had passed to cancer and the growing distance between him and his only daughter. He tried, he told himself, but time was finite for all men, even wealthy ones, and he had a corporation that continued to demand more of his time with each passing year. As his social class elevated, his family had always been by his side for every phase, from the hungry medium-sized business owner struggling to make every payroll, supporting him from their home, to his first few breakthroughs. He remembered their reactions when he announced they were moving to the upper-class apartments in Minato City, more befitting their new standing once the first group of international deals went through. Thinking back, their initial support, now he realized, was somewhat muted in that they were the ones who had to say farewell to their friends and relationships back in Fujikawa. Then once Masako begun to suffer illness, it was just Kyoko left alone with him and a host of servants. Of course, he did his best with every material support he could muster; the best tutors, schools, domestic support, trips to broaden her mind and experiences, security to keep her safe, nothing was too good for his little girl, at least as far as he could tell. Almost ten years of investment in the most precious thing in the world... and now it was all going to be lost to him.